2nd Grade - Gateway 2
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Building Knowledge
Building Knowledge with Texts, Vocabulary, and TasksGateway 2 - Does Not Meet Expectations | 43% |
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Criterion 2.1: Building Knowledge with Texts, Vocabulary, and Tasks | 14 / 32 |
The instructional materials for Grade 1 do not meet the expectations of Gateway 2. Some texts are organized around topics. Materials contain few sets of questions and tasks that require students to analyze the language, key ideas, details, craft, and structure of individual texts. The materials do contain some sets of text-dependent questions and tasks; however, the questions and tasks do not require students to analyze the integration of knowledge and ideas across both individual and multiple texts. Culminating tasks do not promote the building of students’ knowledge of the theme/topic. The materials include a year-long plan for students to interact with and build key academic vocabulary words across texts throughout the year, however, it is not cohesive and the vocabulary does not connect across texts. Materials include some writing instruction aligned to the standards and shifts for the grade level, although teachers may need to supplement to ensure students are accessing end-of-year skills. The materials include little focused research skills practice. The materials partially meet the expectations for materials providing a design, including accountability, for how students will regularly engage in a volume of independent reading either in or outside of class.
Criterion 2.1: Building Knowledge with Texts, Vocabulary, and Tasks
Materials build knowledge through integrated reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language.
Indicator 2a
Texts are organized around a topic/topics to build students knowledge and vocabulary which will over time support and help grow students' ability to comprehend complex texts independently and proficiently.
Materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet the expectations that texts are organized around a topic/topics to build students’ knowledge and their ability to read and comprehend complex texts proficiently. The units in Grade 2 materials are organized by broad, universal themes such as “Animal Traits.” Each weekly lesson is centered around a knowledge-building topic that supports the unit theme. Like Kindergarten, most of the texts are connected to each other to build student knowledge and comprehension; however, the weekly lessons do not connect to each other to build knowledge across the unit. For example, Unit 1 lessons move from animal traits to learning about families and then back to animal traits before learning about being a good neighbor.
In Grade 2 the unit themes/titles do not clearly categorize the lesson topics. Overall, the materials focus mostly on animals, weather, citizenship, social studies topics, folktales, and other science topics. Within most weekly lessons, students read multiple texts related to the lesson topic. The read-alouds, anchor texts, big books, paired selections, fluency charts, vocabulary readers, and guided readers are aligned to the lesson topic in most but not all lessons.
Because the unit themes are broad, the lessons cover multiple topics in each unit. However, in several units the lessons are not cohesive and some are not aligned to the overall topic which interferes with student knowledge building. For example, the Unit 3 theme is “Tell Me About It!” The overall theme of the lesson is supposed to focus on communication but this is not clearly defined across the lessons. Lesson 1 focuses on humorous or real interactions between animals and humans but lesson two jumps to musical instruments. Lesson 3 compares schools around the world but jumps to alternative ways people communicate such as Helen Keller. This occurs again in Unit 5 and 6.
Below is a sample of unit topics and lessons. The Unit 1 lesson, “Animal Traits”, is an example of texts aligned to the topic. The Unit 5 lesson “Life Cycles” is an example of how texts do not center around a topic.
- Unit 1: Neighborhood Visit
- Lesson Topics: Animal Traits, Family Time, Animal Traits, Getting Along with Others, Places Around Town
- Unit 2: Nature Watch
- Lesson Topics: Animal Homes, Agriculture, Weather, Traditional Tales, Ocean Life
- Unit 3: Tell Me About It!
- Lesson Topics: Animal and Human Interactions, Music, School Differences, Special Ways to Communicate, Personal Safety
- Unit 4: Heroes and Helpers
- Lesson Topics: Helping Others, Never Give Up, Reading and Writing, Signs, Heroic Contributions
- Unit 5: Changes, Changes Everywhere
- Lesson Topics: Animal Development, Following Directions, Visual Arts, Traditional Stories, Life Cycles
- Unit 6: What a Surprise!
- Lesson Topics: Life Cycles, Fossils, Traditional Stories, Traditional Stories, Historical Figures
Indicator 2b
Materials contain sets of coherently sequenced questions and tasks that require students to analyze the language (words/phrases), key ideas, details, craft, and structure of individual texts in order to make meaning and build understanding of texts and topics.
Materials reviewed for Grade1 meet the criteria for containing sets of coherently sequenced questions and tasks that require students to analyze the language, key ideas, details, craft, and structure of individual texts. Lessons contain sets of questions and tasks that require students first to comprehend and then analyze the language, key ideas, details, craft, and structure of individual texts. Over the course of the year, instructional materials grow in rigor. Students respond with simple sentences or discussion in the first unit, but move to responding with paragraphs throughout the year.
As students engage with texts, they work in a Reader’s Handbook which provides some opportunities throughout the year to record main ideas, details (evidence) or story structures. The Teacher Edition also offers a section on scaffolding for close reading with anchor texts which offers ways to engage with the text through multiple reads. Students also work in a Writer’s Handbook to practice writing about the topics they study but these tasks are not text-dependent .
Each core text (read-alouds, big books, and paired selections) is accompanied by sections titled “Summarize” and “Think Through the Text” as stopping points for students to discuss what they are reading. “Think through the Text” sections contain questions that focus mostly on details and language in the text but may also ask students to make inferences based on what they read or see in pictures. These questions lead students to either a “Dig Deeper” or “Analyze the Text” section which is indicated by a red square in which students extend their thinking about the text; however, there is not a “Dig Deeper” section for all texts. Most of the “Think Through the Text” questions are answered in whole group discussions as students build more writing capacity. The “Dig Deeper” or “Analyze the Texts” sections incorporate more graphic organizers or written responses. Students work toward writing or discussion tasks connected to the essential question which is not text-dependent.
These are examples of text-dependent questions that focus on language, key ideas, details, craft, structure provided in the teacher materials :
Unit 1, Lesson 3: Animal Traits
- “Think Through the Text” questions - So far what have you learned about owning a pet? What clues from the text and photos tell you this is a dog? Which two groups of pets does the author mention? Why do you think the author used this heading on page 88?
- “Dig Deeper”/”Analyze the Text”- Use a sentence map to write a paragraph about the author’s purpose of “Dogs.”
Unit 4 , Lesson 18: Reading and Writing
- “Think Through the Text”questions - Look at the picture of Gabriela Mistral on page 93. What do you think the things around Gabriela stand for? What do you know about Gabriela by the end of page 95? How would you describe her? Which words does the author use to tell about Gabriela’s feelings? What details on page 98 support the main idea that Gabriela loves words? Why does Gabriela think the alphabet is important?
- “Dig Deeper”/”Analyze the Text”- Students will use a three-column chart to record details from the text about Gabriela’s words, thoughts, and actions to form an opinion about the main character.
Indicator 2c
Materials contain a coherently sequenced set of text-dependent questions and tasks that require students to analyze the integration of knowledge and ideas across both individual and multiple texts.
Materials reviewed for Grade 2 do not meet the expectations of materials containing a coherently sequenced set of text-based questions and tasks that require students to build knowledge and integrate ideas across both individual and multiple texts. Though the materials contain sets of text-based questions and tasks that lead students through the comprehension and main ideas of the text, these are only provided during the actual reading of the text. There are very few tasks that ask students to demonstrate knowledge gained from a text or across multiple texts. The major prompts and/or tasks are not text-based. Students respond to their readings with more self-to-text connections and devote most of their writing practice about topics and not texts. Although text-based questions are utilized to help students comprehend and analyze a text, any tasks for building knowledge across multiple texts is done typically without reference to the texts.
As students engage with texts, they work in a Reader’s Handbook which provides some opportunities to list evidence from the texts in graphic organizers. They may also draw or write about characters in individual or multiple texts, but most writing is based on their personal feelings or response. Students also work on a Writer’s Handbook to practice writing about the topics they are studying, but these tasks are not text-based until later units. In Unit 6, students compose a response paragraph and essay in which they share their feelings toward a story or character, but this is not guided by a text-based or knowledge-building prompt.
The Teacher Edition also contains a text box for most readings labeled Cross-Curricular Connection. These are typically discussion starters that extend what students learned from the text to their own experience or how it is relevant to their community or future learning. Most lessons also provide specified text to text, text to self, and text to world tasks or discussions, but it is not indicated how students are accountable for this information.
This is a representative example of how tasks for knowledge building are generally not text-based in the Grade 2 materials.
Unit 4, Lesson 18: Reading and Writing
- Essential Question: Why are reading and writing important?
- Summarize/Analyze the text: How do the illustrations on page 100-101 seem like what happens in real school? Use the Retelling Cards to guide children to summarize the story.
- Think-Write-Pair-Share- How do you feel about reading and writing poetry? Make a list of words that describe your feelings.
- Cross-curricular Connection: Ask children why they think Gabriela’s contribution to literature is important?
- Shared Writing: Write a paragraph that describes a place, an animal, or a thing.
- Write about Reading: How would you describe Gabriela? Write a paragraph telling what she is like.
- Text to text: Look at the poems you just read. Which do you think Gabriela would like the best? Give a few reasons using text evidence from, My Name is Gabriela.
- Independent Writing task: Students revise and rewrite the paragraph they composed in guided writing that describes a place, an animal, or a thing.
Indicator 2d
The questions and tasks support students' ability to complete culminating tasks in which they demonstrate their knowledge of a topic (or, for grades 6-8, a theme) through integrated skills (e.g. combination of reading, writing, speaking, listening).
The instructional materials for Grade 2 do not meet the expectations for providing questions and tasks that support students’ abilities to complete culminating tasks in which they demonstrate their knowledge of a topic or theme through integrated skills (e.g., combination of reading, writing, speaking and listening). Each lesson series provides an independent writing performance task as a culminating piece for the week. To complete the task, students have an opportunity daily to practice the focus writing skill, share their ideas and pieces with peers, and discuss the topic about which they are writing. The majority of writing tasks focus primarily on the writing skill but inconsistently integrates the topic studied during the week. Though some lessons feature a performance task in which students discuss or respond to a question about the text they are reading, there are no designated culminating tasks in which students engage with the texts or topics for the lesson.
The end of each weekly lesson builds to an independent writing task that does not typically require students to use the knowledge built from their readings, most are completed based on their own personal experience or by demonstrating the weekly writing skill.
Below are examples of weekly independent writing tasks that do incorporate reading and writing; however, they are not knowledge-developing skills. These are found in the Teacher Edition and students complete some of the tasks in their Reader’s Notebook or Writer’s Handbook. The independent writing task is usually built over a series of days, examples include:
- Unit 1, Lesson 5, Narrative Writing- Places Around Town
- Performance Task: Reread pages 166-167. Why does Mrs. Fry say she is lucky after reading Rodger’s note? Write a few sentences to tell your opinion.
- Independent Writing: Students proofread and then publish a final draft of their personal narrative about something that happened to them at school.
- Unit Performance Task: Students practice the skill of brainstorming to determine what they would want to know about spiders over a period of 5 days from Lesson 4 to 5.
- Unit 4, Lesson 20, Narrative Writing- Heroic Contributions
- Guided Writing: Students have been composing a narrative based on this prompt: Write a story about a character who does something important or brave. They will work on building paragraphs to show that stories have a beginning, middle, and an end. This task does not build knowledge of the topics read and studied, but does integrate the skills of reading and writing.
Indicator 2e
Materials include a cohesive, year-long plan for students to interact with and build key academic vocabulary words in and across texts.
The instructional materials for Grade 2 partially meet the expectations of materials providing guidance for supporting students’ academic vocabulary. The materials do not include a cohesive, year-long plan for students to interact and build key academic vocabulary words in and across texts. Vocabulary is taught within the context of each weekly lesson as well as within each text read. The unit lessons do not always connect from one week to the next therefore, vocabulary practice across an entire unit is limited to the skills practiced instead of the focus topic for building knowledge. Students spend time practicing for fluency, high-frequency words, and spelling but these are set apart from vocabulary instruction.
Each lesson has a box for “Target Vocabulary” on the focus wall. There are usually around 8 words in this box. Each weekly pacing guide instructs the teacher to “Introduce Vocabulary” on Day 1, and then “Apply Vocabulary Knowledge” in which they “Review Target Vocabulary” on a following day. During this review day students are also introduced to new words labeled “Enrich” to expand the vocabulary to words that may be utilized the additional text. Students may also “Warm-up with Wordplay” that reviews the weekly and enriching vocabulary words. On Day 5, students are introduced to “Domain Specific Vocabulary” which adds more to the weekly words found in the texts. In each of these vocabulary tasks, students answer questions or discuss the words in and out of the context of the week’s lesson topic. Though students practice reviewing the words, there are typically not opportunities provided within the writing and reading tasks to intentionally utilize the words. The vocabulary words are highlighted within the texts, but generally do not overlap across texts and are not teachers are not prompted within the text to identify or engage with the highlighted words.
Vocabulary is generally introduced with Context Cards that students can view examples of how the word is used in real-life settings. The cards have images and sentences that offer a definition and example of the word. These are not based in the context of the texts they will read. Lessons are also accompanied by a Vocabulary Reader that is aligned to the week's topic for most lessons. Each vocabulary reader extends a language skill from the prior text and include tasks in which students practice using language or vocabulary.
This is an example of vocabulary instruction for a weekly lesson.
Unit 4: Lesson 20: Heroic Contributions
- Day 1: Introduce the Vocabulary: Students view Context Cards (also represented in their student text) for the vocabulary words which are found in the anchor text: gazing, hero, sprang, exercise, sore, studied, depended, overlooked.
- Day 2: Warm up with Wordplay: Students select two words from a list two describe the main character of Dex: The Heart of a Hero. These are not words from the weekly vocabulary list.
- Day 3: Apply Vocabulary Knowledge: Students are introduced to new vocabulary words antics, heroics, purpose, fantastic in addition to reviewing the words for the week from Day 1. The examples provided for meaning are connected to the anchor text though these words do not appear in the text itself. Then, students answer questions such as “What types of antics make you laugh?” to utilize the vocabulary out of the context of the texts or topic.
- Day 4: Vocabulary Strategies: Students warm up by using the new words learned in Day 3 and then practice using the prefix -over. This is a connection to the vocabulary word overlooked.
- Day 5: Domain Specific Vocabulary: Students discuss, illustrate, and write about the words charity, grant, improve, and figure. It is unclear from where these words are pulled.
As demonstrated, the materials do include a year-long structure for vocabulary, including target vocabulary, domain-specific vocabulary, spelling words, and reading/language arts Tier III terms; however they do not include a cohesive, year-long plan for students to interact with and build key academic vocabulary words across texts, lessons, and units throughout the year.
Indicator 2f
Materials include a cohesive, year-long plan to support students' increasing writing skills over the course of the school year, building students' writing ability to demonstrate proficiency at grade level at the end of the school year.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet expectations for materials containing a year long, cohesive plan of writing instruction and tasks which support students in building and communicating substantive understanding of topics and texts. Materials are not built around topics. Materials are organized around writing types to build students’ writing ability to demonstrate proficiency at grade level at the end of the school year. The majority of writing instruction and tasks are not text-specific nor do they require a substantive understanding of topics. For example, in Unit 3, Lesson 13, students read several texts about different types of schools across countries but the writing tasks for the week prepare students to write a persuasive paragraph to convince the teacher to take a class on a trip. While the development of opinion writing is cohesive throughout Unit 3, the tasks do not demonstrate student knowledge or understanding of the texts and topics.
Daily lessons include writing tasks that range from crafting quality sentences to writing a persuasive and informational essay. The first three days of the lesson typically follow shared and guided writing in which the class composes together. Days four or five of the week focus more on independent writing practice though this is supported by the materials such as the Writer’s Handbook, sentence starters, or group discussion. Each week generally focuses on one type of writing or task and each day builds student capacity to complete the independent task. Each of the three writing types are focused on for two units.
The following are examples of the different writing types that build across the units.
- Unit 1, Narrative Writing- crafting true story sentences, descriptive sentences, friendly letters,and true stories
- Unit 2, Informative Writing- building quality informational paragraphs and instructions
- Unit 3, Opinion Writing- writing a persuasive letter and paragraphs to craft a persuasive essay
- Unit 4, Narrative Writing- writing fictional narrative paragraphs, friendly letters, and a fictional story
- Unit 5, Informative Writing- writing informational paragraphs with organizational patterns to build an informational essay
- Unit 6, Opinion Writing- writing story-response poems, opinion paragraphs, story responses, and a response essay
Indicator 2g
Materials include a progression of focused research projects to encourage students to develop knowledge in a given area by confronting and analyzing different aspects of a topic using multiple texts and source materials.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet expectations for materials including a progression of focused shared research and writing projects to encourage students to develop knowledge and understanding of a topic using texts and other source materials. Daily and weekly writing tasks require students to brainstorm events or things that are familiar to them and discuss these with peers. In Unit 5, students do write an informational essay about an animal of their choice using the entire writing process; however, this report is written independently of the unit or lesson topics of visual arts, traditional stories, and life cycles.
Some lessons are accompanied by a “Research and Media Literacy” section usually at the end of the weekly lesson. Grade 2 students have some opportunities to practice learning the components necessary to think critically and practice research skills; however, at times these tasks are not related to the writing type, text or topic of the lesson. There is limited guidance for teachers and students on how to conduct these tasks and many times the research must be completed by the teacher using the Internet before students can engage in the work. These tasks may loosely connect to a text or topic but they are not integrated into the daily routines of student learning and reading.
In Unit 4, an example of a “Research and Media Literacy” task is in Lesson 16 under the topic “Helping Others.” This task requires that the teacher record the students reading Mr. Tanen’s Tie Trouble with expression. The teacher is instructed to use the equipment in the classroom and show students how to turn on the equipment and record themselves. There are no recommended pieces of equipment or software and teachers do not have any guidance as how to record students or monitor their reading. Students are to work on the recordings through the following week while the weekly lesson has already moved to other texts and the topic “Never Give Up.”
Indicator 2h
Materials provide a design, including accountability, for how students will regularly engage in a volume of independent reading either in or outside of class.
The materials for Grade 2 partially meet the expectations for materials providing a design, including accountability, for how students will regularly engage in a volume of independent reading either in or outside of class.
Students complete independent reading on Day 3 of every lesson. Students are to go back and reread portions of the anchor text and complete pages in their Reader’s Notebook. Students then complete self-selected reading, but they do not record their selections or progress as a type of accountability.
Teachers are provided limited instruction on how to support reader independence. The Teacher Edition gives the guidance in the form of the Five Finger Rule. The materials direct the teacher to, “Tell children that when they select books for reading, they should make sure the book is not too easy or too difficult. Review the Five Finger Rule for choosing a ‘just right’ book. Choose a book that interests you, and read the first page or two. Put one finger up for every word you don’t know. If five of your fingers go up while reading, choose another book. If only two or three fingers go up, you’ve found a ‘just right’ book. If no fingers or only one finger go up, this book is too easy for you and you should choose another book. Review with children why it is important not to choose a book that is too easy or too difficult.”